Kashmir Sapphire Fetches Record 20 Cr Price

LONDON: The 19.88 carat Kashmir sapphire called " The star of Kashmir" has smashed all records after it sold for the highest per carat price of a sapphire, ever.

Sapphire which is shaped like a cushion was sold for a whopping $3,483,017 which is approximately Rs 20 crore. The jewel was auctioned by Christie's on Wednesday in Geneva.

This was supposedly the rarest of the Kashmir Sapphires which made it sit in the spotlight of the event. With a homogenous cornflower blue hues and highly saturated color, in a large size, this Kashmir Sapphire is beyond the best that you can find among the coveted Kashmir gems.

Christie's said "The Star of Kashmir is part of the exclusive family of the rarest Kashmir sapphires ever to be offered at auction.

The gem is studded with diamonds on either side. The auction house didn’t disclose the name of the buyer.

Based on tests conducted by the New York-based American Gemological Laboratories Inc., the auction house said the sapphire originates from mines in Kashmir. It added that tests showed the gem’s appearance had not been altered artificially, adding to its value.

Kashmir has traditionally been one of the world’s main sources of sapphire, along with countries like Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Madagascar.

Earlier the world record price-per-carat for a sapphire at auction was also held by a sapphire from Kashmir, which sold for more than $145,000 per carat (more than $3.8 million dollars in total) in November 2011

The sapphire deposits of Kashmir are well known in the gem industry, despite the fact that the peak production from this area mostly took place in a relatively short period at the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. KO Monitoring Desk